Impact2020: August 18, 2020
We start today’s Impact2020 briefing with (what else) the Democratic National Convention, which kicked off with speeches from party stars such as Michelle Obama, ordinary voters and Republicans who are switching sides. We also wrap up Donald Trump’s visits to Minnesota and Wisconsin and look at the U.S. Postal Service’s decision to pause its pre-election changes.
On the Ground
Setting the tone
Democrats are hoping to inspire a sense of unity at their national convention this week heading into the final stretch of the 2020 campaign against President Donald Trump. It seems as though most of Bernie Sanders’ supporters are receiving the message.
The Sacramento Bee’s Kate Irby writes that the former presidential candidate’s California delegates to the DNC are disappointed Sanders isn’t the nominee, but are largely ready to get behind Joe Biden. California was a critical state for Sanders in the primary, and is home to Biden’s VP pick, Kamala Harris. “In conversations with several Sanders delegates only one, who asked not to be named, said he would not be voting for Biden in November,” Irby reports.
As Sanders delegate Jewel Hurtado put it: “Is it just about getting Trump out of office? Yes, it kind of is.”
In his convention speech, Sanders urged his backers to put their differences with Biden aside. “The future of our democracy is at stake,” he said. “The future of our economy is at stake. The future of the planet is at stake. We must come together to defeat Donald Trump.”
Former Ohio GOP Gov. John Kasich made a similar case for Biden from the other side of the aisle, warning of “terrible consequences for America’s soul” if Trump is re-elected, the Columbus Dispatch’s Randy Ludlow reports.
“America is at a crossroads,” Kasich said (more on that below). “The stakes in this election are greater than any in modern times.”
But it was former First Lady Michelle Obama who delivered the night’s most memorable address. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Mary Spicuzza reports that she portrayed Trump “as a failed leader who couldn’t rise to the office and needs to be replaced.”
“Donald Trump is the wrong president for our country,” Obama said. “He has had more than enough time to prove that he can do the job, but he is clearly in over his head.”
Some other takeaways from night one of the convention from our politics team:
David Catanese summarized it as “a success -- focused on ordinary people and the crisis of the country at the front, speeches were mostly tight, production slick, no *major* tech fails and Michelle [Obama] was a smashing clean-up batter.”
And Alex Roarty noted that it “established early that racial justice and the pandemic will be front and center all four days, interwoven in just about everything.”
Get ready: The Beyond the Bubble podcast team will have a NEW episode on Friday wrapping up the Democratic convention. Download: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts
On the road again
Before the convention kicked off, Trump visited the Midwest for some counterprogramming.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Molly Beck and Chris Mueller report that during his address to a crowd of 1,000 at an Oshkosh, Wis. airfield Trump “declared the stock market and the nation’s economy — hammered by the coronavirus pandemic — would rebound if he is reelected to heights met under his first term before the virus struck. But he also braced the crowd for a potential loss — albeit by raising the false specter of widespread election fraud.”
“The only way we’re going to lose this election is if the election is rigged,” Trump said.
Beck and Mueller write: “Trump wants voters to see him in person — to remind them that Biden won’t accept the nomination in Milwaukee. But the rallies also underscore a message Democrats hope voters absorb — the contrast between their mostly remote convention structured around safety and Trump’s barnstorming during the pandemic.”
The president also stopped yesterday in Mankato, Minn., where he painted Biden as a “puppet of left-wing extremists.” The Minneapolis Star-Tribune’s Adam Belz has more.
Trump is scheduled to travel to Arizona today and Pennsylvania later this week.
USPS reversal
“Postmaster General Louis DeJoy announced Tuesday that he would pause changes to U.S. Postal Service operations until after the November election, following an intensifying backlash from lawmakers in both parties,” the Kansas City Star’s Bryan Lowry and Jonathan Shorman report.
DeJoy’s changes, including elimination of overtime for many employees and later delivery, had “sparked concerns about potential delays in handling what is expected to be an unprecedented volume of mail ballots,” write Lowry and Shorman.
DeJoy said that mail processing equipment would remain, no facilities will be closed, retail hours will stay unchanged and overtime pay for employees will continue to be approved as needed.
In a statement, DeJoy said: “The Postal Service is ready today to handle whatever volume of election mail it receives this fall. Even with the challenges of keeping our employees and customers safe and healthy as they operate amid a pandemic, we will deliver the nation’s election mail on time and within our well-established service standards.”
Lowry and Shorman note that DeJoy’s policy reversal “comes ahead of a Saturday vote in the U.S. House on legislation that would provide emergency aid for the Postal Service and block DeJoy from pursuing operational changes.”
Trail Mix
Convention watch
South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn’s Democratic convention speech highlighted “the history of racial injustice and how many Black Americans can trace their roots to slaves brought to the country through Charleston,” The State’s Joseph Bustos writes.
Another South Carolina Democrat and key Biden supporter, state Sen. Marlon Kimpson, is set to address the convention tonight, Bustos notes.
The Miami Herald’s Alex Daugherty reports on how one Florida teenager organized hundreds of young DNC delegates during the pandemic.
And as for next week’s Republican National Convention: the Charlotte Observer’s Jim Morrill answers some FAQs.
Election Day
Three states are holding primary elections today: Alaska, Florida and Wyoming. Reporters for the Anchorage Daily News, Miami Herald and Casper Star-Tribune have everything you need to know.
Number of the Day
40%
A Latino Decisions poll found that just 40% of Florida’s Hispanics have heard from political organizations about voting or registering to vote in the November election, David Smiley reports for the Miami Herald. That figure stood at 34% nationally.
Crossroads haven’t been this popular since Bone Thugs
Kasich created a meme-able moment at the convention when he took his message of “America is at a crossroads” to, well, a crossroads (or a fork in the road… or maybe his driveway?)
For Planning Purposes
Aug. 18
Jill Biden, Bill Clinton and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez address the DNC
Trump visits Yuma, Ariz.
Primary elections in Alaska, Florida and Wyoming
Aug. 19.
Barack Obama, Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren address the DNC
Pence visits Darien, Wis.
Aug. 20
Joe Biden delivers his speech accepting the Democratic presidential nomination
Trump visits Scranton, Pa.
Aug. 24-27
The Republican National Convention takes place
McClatchyDC Politics Editor Adam Wollner contributed to this newsletter.
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This story was originally published August 18, 2020 at 1:46 PM.